Strengthening leadership in social services

08/12/2016

The Scottish Social Services Leadership Strategy Group launched a refreshed leadership strategy to continue the development of leadership in Scotland’s social services at a special event in Glasgow on 8 December 2016.

The strategy for enhancing the leadership capability of Scotland’s social services: Delivery plan 2017-2020 builds on the good progress made by the first leadership strategy which we published in 2013.

The key aim of the strategy is to improve outcomes for people receiving social services, families and communities by supporting the development of effective leadership as there is a direct link between it and good performance in social services.

In their foreword to the strategy the Scottish Social Services Leadership Strategy Group say:

‘What this refreshed strategy aims to do is further develop our workforce and take leadership in Scotland’s social services to the next level. We look forward to working collaboratively on the actions and will monitor progress to make sure that the leadership activity set out here delivers meaningful change and supports the implementation of Social Services in Scotland: a shared vision and strategy 2015-2020.’

New research into what makes good leadership in social services, Enabling leadership, informed the refreshed strategy and was also published this month.

The vision of the strategy is for the workforce to recognise, understand, develop and use their leadership capability to contribute to service design and delivery that meets the personal outcomes of people using services. This will in turn give people who use services the opportunity to develop their own leadership capability.

Members of the Scottish Social Services Leadership Strategy Group held the launch event at Loretto Care in Glasgow. The group has representatives from the following organisations: